Like everything else I've read on the subject, the study found that barefoot running results in a lot less force and impact. It also found that runners who had traditionally run in shoes and switched to bare feet quickly adapted to the "barefoot style" of landing on or close to the balls of their feet, instead of at the heel.
It also had some interesting things to say about the function of the arch in running -- that barefoot runners have more "spring" in their steps because their landings take advantage of the beautifully complicated structure of the arch.
The whole thing put me in mind of something I read recently, can't remember where, talking about the arch of the human foot and what an amazing piece of engineering it is. It compared foot arches to arches in architecture -- then pointed out that, just as a builder wouldn't support an arch by propping something underneath it, it's anatomically needless to support our arches with fancy padded footwear.
We've trained our feet to need arch support -- but we've got plenty of built-in structure to handle the impact of running ... especially, apparently, if we run using the barefoot gait and land more forward on our feet.
With all that said, I still haven't tried it. Maybe this spring. Until then, here's the article:
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